


It's Obvious When It Happens

by XtaticPearl



Series: Tumblr prompt works [3]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 15:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17286317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: True love made no sense to a teen Tony who finds himself in a mess with a boy apparently meant to be his soulmate. He's sure that's not true.





	It's Obvious When It Happens

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Stony! True love's kiss! There can never be enough!

It was supposed to just be a game. Just a ridiculous game made for silly fun.

There shouldn't have been such consequences of a goddamned game but really, what had Tony been expecting? He had always been given the worst share of luck.

It was the same luck that made him one half of an incredibly rare phenomenon that he had been sure was a myth. His other half, sitting beside him in an ill-fitting shirt and baggy pants, seemed to be more interested in the floor.

It was probably an interesting floor but Tony was a week away from MIT and an inch away from losing his mind so he wasn't the best judge of things. What he definitely knew though, was that this shouldn't be happening to them.

"I say it's some biological malfunction," he said, his first full formed words in the fifteen minutes they'd spent outside the Principal's office.

"I mean," Tony continued when his partner didn't respond, "there's no way soulmates are a real thing. Or - or this whole love business because we're not living in a Hallmark card, are we?"

There was silence even after that and Tony thought about his packed bags, Dum-E ready to be shipped off with him, his parents talking just over the dinner table from a distance he couldn't bridge - this was a mistake. This couldn't happen to him.

"Love is real," he heard and turned to see the boy beside him, with red dried blood under his nose from where Tony's fist had clipped him accidentally. Steve, his brain supplied and yes, Tony knew his name. He was Natasha's friend and had joined the party late from his part time shift. The bottle should have landed on Bucky and that was a thought Tony couldn't handle so he focused on Steve.

"What?" he asked because Steve was still looking at the floor.

"Love," blue eyes looked up and Tony stared at him, "I don't know about soulmates and the other things but love is real."

Steve had a lovely jaw, Tony thought absently. The kind that either tempted you to punch someone or kiss them.

"You're 14," Tony said blankly, "What do you-"

"I have a girlfriend," Steve said quickly, like the words would run away if he didn't get them all out together. His shoulders were one coil of wound pressure and Tony wondered if he would snap. He was a crazy genius who liked exploring.

"Good for you," Tony said and cleared his throat when Steve looked at him sharply, "No? I mean, sure I think you're a malfunctioning human like me right now but more power to you on understanding the complex mysteries of love, bud, good job."

Steve didn't reply and Tony let the silence stay for exactly 69 seconds.

"But seriously, how?"

"How what?"

"True love! How?" Tony flailed a hand out, "What is it measured by? Dopamine levels? Libido? What are the parameters? Do you and your girlfriend have any idea? Because this is all bullshit to me and I'm the youngest entry into MIT!"

"Congrats," Steve said dryly but then flushed as Tony raised a brow, "No, uh, just. I don't know but, it's pretty obvious when it happens?"

Tony kept staring at him but then the door opened and his parents came out followed by Steve's mom. Their discussion took a backseat in the face of Howard's glare.

It wasn't until two decades and three years later, under a Brooklyn apartment's ceiling did Tony turn into an older Steve's arms with an understanding. It was pretty obvious when it happened.

It didn't matter that it had happened after an accidental reunion through work, a friction filled attraction, a tentative romance blooming into something fate had revealed to them years ago in a passing kiss. It was still true love.


End file.
